Two Mescalero incumbents get reelected

Two of three incumbents running for re-election to their seats on the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council won new terms Tuesday.

Incumbent Ira Sago led the pack of eight candidates for the four contested seats on the council with 547 votes. The second highest vote-getter was Gabe Aguilar with 519, Ben Martinez came in third with 503 votes and incumbent Pete Kahze was fourth with 473 votes.

Incumbent Oliver Enjady lost his bid for a new two-year term with 405 votes. Others falling short of the mark were Claudine Saenz with 456 votes, Pamela B. Cordova with 411, and Randy Bell with 373. The field of eight contenders was culled in an October primary from the original 22 candidates running for the council.

On election day, 935 tribal members showed up to cast their ballots and 57 voted absentee for a total of 1,012. The last tribal member count available was 4,788, but that figure was not broken down into adults and children.